As I am not young anymore I drive quite conservatavely. I bought our TDI wagon new in '05 (old body style). Somewhere around 30K I had a spindle bearing start to whine. The dealer replaced it. Around 50K the other side began to whine. The dealer replaced that side as well. Now at 84K one side is making noise again. Is this an item that I can expect to replace every 50K? Does VW have a problem with bearings? I had planned to drive this car for many, many years (my '96 Dodge diesel truck has 435K). The thought of replacement this often gives me pause…

It seems odd to me. Have you driven it into high (muddy) water in between bearing replacements? I’ve seen mud ruin spindle bearings in short order. Ask a boat trailer owner who didn’t pack his wheel bearings between dunkings.

It’s unusal and I agree with MG McAnick that driving in deep water could cause this. Deep water to me is defined as runoff of 4 or 5 inches. I think my wife gets tired of hearing me mention wheel bearings, ball joints, steering racks, etc. going to pot whenever the local news does a heavy rain report and there’s a stream of vehicles plowing through curb deep water.

The Dodge wheel bearings are also going to be sitting higher off the roadway than the VW’s bearings.
The whine on the same side is also on the same end of the car?

Thanks for taking time to reply. As you can see I’m not able to look for responses very quickly. Northwest Montana just doesn’t get much rain. That you both are surprised does give me comfort. Apparently this isn’t normal for VW’s. The whine is from the front. What with the way noise can travel through metal I don’t know which side. I had mentioned the Dodge only for my expectations of longevity. I’ve replaced both the front bearings on that vehicle but not until after 300-400K miles.